January 16, 2013

New Scanner Bridges The Gap Between 35mm Film And Modern Smartphones

The smartphone has dramatically changed the way we do many things, like navigating from point A to point B, finding the best deals, or capturing special moments in our lives. Yet, for all the advancements of the modern smartphone, there are still some remnants of the nearly forgotten analog age hanging about.

One such example are those old spools of 35 mm film. Whether they´ve been turned into prints or not, these films still carry the promise of function, even if there´s no real relevant application for them anymore.

Many industry watchers have already begun to predict doom and despair for point and shoot camera makers as smartphone cameras continue to improve. After all, the best camera is the one you have on you, and it´s incredibly more likely you´ll have your smartphone on you more often than any other camera.

Now, the latest Kickstarter sensation to soar through their campaign aims to bridge the gap between old film and modern smartphones.

The device itself actually employs a bit of Lo-Fi tech to transfer the film to the smartphone. A small backlight lights up the film while the smartphone holder places the camera right above the image. Simply take a picture with your smartphone to capture the image from the 35 mm film.

There are other scanners on the market, of course, but what makes the Lomography Smartphone scanner different is its small size and incredible ease of use. As the Austrian company claims in their introduction video, their smartphone scanner even fits “in your rucksack.”

The entire package consists of little more than a simple backlight. The company also plans to release an app wherein users can edit these scanned photographs as well as print and share them with others. The app will also allow users to edit negatives into positives and even stitch together multiple photographs into panoramas.

When used with the Lomography LomoKino Camera (sold separately, of course) users can create animated movies from these rolls of film, a very cool feature indeed.

Lomography, the company behind this smartphone scanner, is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, describing itself as a “globally active organization dedicated to experimental and creative analog photography.” In previous years, Lomography has independently released medium format 35 mm cameras, as well as the film and accessories to match.

At the time of this writing, the company has already shot past their $50,000 goal, reaching $107,771 with 18 days remaining.

It will be interesting to see, once the campaign is closed, if they´ll be able to deliver their product on time. Recently, Kickstarter has earned itself a reputation funding businesses run by people who have little experience running a business.

For example, one of the more popular Kickstarter phenomenons was the Pebble smartphone watch, meant to pair with your smartphone to deliver alerts and notifications. Though the campaign raised more than $10 million, the company was unable to ship a working product by their fall 2012 deadline. It was only last week during CES that the company announced a definitive shipping date: January 23.